Trump considers Tehran strike after Israel attacks Gaza food queue

Irish Daily Mirror

5 hours ago

Israeli forces have killed dozens of people queueing at a food hub in Gaza.
Witnesses to the attack in the city of Khan Younis described a "massacre" as tanks and drones opened fire on the crowd without warning. As many as 700 people are said to have been wounded, with many seriously hurt. One survivor said: "Tens of thousands of hungry civilians gathered for the aid. Two Israeli shells were dropped in the middle of the crowd. Dozens of civilians, including children, were killed and no one could help."
Another said: "It was a massacre." Speaking at the hospital in the aftermath of the attack, Samaher Meqdad said: "Why did they fire at the young people? Why? Aren't we human beings?"
It comes as Donald Trump put the world on edge with a series of erratic rants, with which he said America was not going to assassinate Iran's supreme leader "at least for now".
For live updates, follow our blog below...
Israel continues to fight on two fronts with deadly attacks reported this morning in Gaza.
According to reports, a fire has broken out at a section of Baghdad Airport which US forces operate from.
It comes as Donald Trump reportedly weighs up whether to join Israel in carrying out strikes on Iran.
انباء عن اندلاع حريق لأسباب مجهولة داخل مطار بغداد بالجزء الذي تسيطر عليه القوات الأمريكية . pic.twitter.com/gV7c09BOEI
With the country facing an ever-increasing bombardment of Israeli bombs, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has held a meeting at the presidential palace this morning.
It comes as Israel ramps up its attacks and the US weighs up whether to involve itself in the ongoing conflict.
The state-run Tasnim news agency shared pictures showing several cabinet members, including First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref attending the meeting.
A former Israeli diplomat said Iran could force Washington's hand by attacking a US ship or base.
Michael Oren said there is a movement in the White House that doesn't want the US to involve itself in another foreign conflict. Trump himself convinced some Americans to vote for him based on repeated pledges to minimise US involvement in wars abroad.
Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "[Iran attacking the US first would] increase pressure on Trump within his own White House, and President Trump would pressure Israel.
"That's the way the Iranians might think," Oren says. "It's a fear I have."
Two planes have touched down in Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, bringing home the first batch of Israelis stranded abroad.
Israeli media reports say that tens of thousands of Israelis have been left stranded abroad since the war broke out.
The flights, which were flying from Larnaca, Cyprus, landed at the Tel Aviv transport hub on Wednesday morning.
Israel chose to close its airspace for commercial flights due to the ballistic missiles being launched from Iran.
Most Americans think the US should not get involved in the conflict, according to a YouGov poll.
Sixty per cent of those polled oppose the move, while only 16 per cent approve of it.
One of Donald Trump's key campaign pledges was not to involve the US in foreign conflicts.
Israel is reportedly running out of defensive Arrow interceptors.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which reported the development, added that it could affect the country's ability to shoot down Iran's long-range ballistic missiles.
An anonymous US official told the Journal the US has been aware of the issue for months.
Daily life continues in Tehran as Iranian armed forces target Israeli positions and respond to the regime's acts of aggression.Follow: https://t.co/mLGcUTS2ei pic.twitter.com/DimXvbV9gb
Explosions rocked Tehran early this morning as intense Israeli airstrikes rained down on the capital.
A human rights group said the strikes had killed at least 585 people across Iran and wounded 1,326 others. Iran has been known to minimise casualties in the past, with its last update on Monday putting the toll at 224 with 1,277 wounded.
So far 24 people have been killed in Israel.
The Israeli military says it has struck uranium centrifuge production sites and weapons factories in Iran overnight.
As the conflict enters its sixth day, "more than 50 aircraft" bombarded "a centrifuge production site" and a number of weapons production sites. Some of the targets were places where the regime produced surface to air missiles, Israel claims.
Shai Mozes, whose parents were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and have since been released, said: 'Israel's real enemy is not Hamas, but Netanyahu, who is destroying Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.'
Some 600 people protested along Israel's border with Gaza. Activist Alon-Lee Green, national co-director of grassroots peace group Standing Together, said: 'Some people are protesting because they see it as a political war.'
Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage. Israel's military campaign since then has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Yousef Nofal said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground. He said: 'It was a massacre,' claiming soldiers continued firing as people fled the area.
Mohammed Abu Qeshfa said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. He added: 'I survived by a miracle.'
Samaher Meqdad was at a hospital looking for her two brothers and a nephew who had been in the crowd. She said: 'Why did they fire at the young people? Why? Aren't we human beings?'
The Israeli army said it was investigating the incident, the latest in a series of catastrophes at distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. An army spokesman said: 'Earlier today, Gazans were identified gathering next to an aid truck that got stuck in Khan Younis, next to Israeli forces operating in the area.
'We are aware of reports of a number of casualties from IDF fire after the mass neared [troops]. The details are being checked.'
Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said: 'Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded.'
Dr Mohammed Saqer, head of nursing at Nasser hospital, said nearly 700 casualties had been treated in hospital.
He added: 'Most of the cases are in serious conditions due to the tanks' missiles and now the situation at Nasser medical complex is out of control. We can't deal with such a high number of cases, so we asked the hospitals around Khan Younis city to support us and send ambulances to transfer cases to those hospitals.
'We are suffering a lot due to lack of medical supplies and instruments in addition to the lack of medical and nursing staff. We are trying to control the situation but now we can't do anything more.'
In recent weeks, there have been growing protests from Israelis about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military policy inside Gaza.
Israeli forces killed more than 50 people queueing at a food hub in Gaza. Witnesses to the attack in the city of Khan Younis described a 'massacre' as tanks and drones opened fire on the crowd without warning. As many as 700 people are said to have been wounded, with many seriously hurt.
Survivor Saeed Abu Liba, 38, said: 'Tens of thousands of hungry civilians gathered for the aid. Two Israeli shells were dropped in the middle of the crowd. Dozens of civilians, including children, were killed and no one could help.'
Israeli strikes have killed at least 585 people across Iran and wounded 1,326 others, a human rights group said Wednesday.
The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said it had identified 239 of the dead as civilians and 126 as security personnel.
The group, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.
Iran has not been publishing regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimised casualties in the past. Its last update, issued Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1,277 others wounded.
Residents in northeastern Tehran awoke to a loud bang this morning, after Israeli jets struck a key target in Iran's nuclear programme.
A fire could be seen raging at the heavily sanctioned Imam Hossein University, where nuclear scientists work on producing weapons of mass destruction, under the close administration of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to experts at the Gulf International Forum.
The facility has been pointed to as a key centre for Iran's development and production of biological and nuclear weapons by alarmed governments.
Imam Hossein University was designated as centre for weapons of mass destruction manufacturing by the US Treasury in 2012 for 'providing, or attempting to provide technological, and or other support for and services in support of the IRGC.'
The New York Times reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping has spoken for the first time about the war between Israel and Iran, saying he was "deeply concerned" about Israel's "military action."
He noted that his country was willing to mediate an end to the fighting, and said China opposes any infringement on the 'sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of other countries.'
Isreal's ambassador to the US Michael Leiter spoke to the circumstances of Ayatollah Khamenei, hours after Trump called him an 'easy target' but said the US was not going to 'take him out' or kill him.
On Friday he 'looks over his left shoulder for his nuclear scientists and found none,' he said of Iran's supreme leader. 'Then he looked over his right shoulder for his generals on the IRGC … he didn't see any of them either,' he told CNN hours after President Trump met with his security team.
Donald Trump spoke to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, according to a White House official.
Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said strikes were taking place around Tehran early on Wednesday after planes had targeted missile launch and storage facilities on Tuesday night.
Air raid sirens have been heard in parts of Israel while the US State Department announced it was closing the embassy in Jerusalem for the rest of the week.
A bizarre theory connecting the Israel and Iran conflict to a spike in pizza deliveries near the Pentagon has been rubbished.
Internet sleuths believed they spotted signs of the initial Israeli bombardment days earlier - by tracking activity at pizzerias near the huge government building. The Pentagon Pizza Report, an online group, noted a surge in orders at District Pizza Palace, a takeaway two miles from the Pentagon, the night before the attack.
Around one hour before the bombing began at about 7pm on Thursday (local time), the group, which has 100,000 followers, wrote on X: "All nearby pizza establishments have experienced a HUGE surge in activity."
But see below more about how this has been debunked.
An Iranian missile or shrapnel appears to have fallen in a parking lot in central Israel, according to reports.
Israel's Channel 12 reported that the incident set 20 cars ablaze, and fire crews are trying to put out the fire.
Images shared on social media claim to show the vehicles on fire.
The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) says Air Force has begun new wave of attacks in Tehran in Iran.
The IDF has issued a new evacuation order for District 18 in Tehran due to an upcoming attack, it is understood.
Multiple explosions have been heard.
Iranian state television on Tuesday afternoon urged the country's public to remove the messaging platform WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging the app — without offering specific evidence — gathered user information to send to Israel.
In a statement, WhatsApp said it was 'concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.' WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning a service provider in the middle can't read a message.
"We do not track your precise location, we don't keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another," it added. 'We do not provide bulk information to any government."
Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has posted a message on X about the ongoing conflict with Israel, a message which comes after US president Donald Trump said he had no intention of killing the Iranian leader 'for now'.
Citing a verse from the Qur'an, Ali Khamenei wrote: "Help from Allah and an imminent conquest' (Holy Quran: 61:13).
"The Islamic Republic will triumph over the Zionist regime by the will of God.'
Red Alert sirens have been acittivated across Israel as the coutnry continues to exchange fire with Iran.
Reports claim explosions could be seen lighting up the skies above Tel Aviv. Israel's Iron Dome rockets shot upwards to intercept missiles fired from Tehran.
No immediate casualties or injuries are reported as the Magen David Adom emergency services attend.
A post from the ILRedAlert twitter account reads: "Medics are responding to multiple missile impact reports in central Israel after Iran's latest attack. Magen David Adom confirms no immediate injuries reported."
Videos from northern Israel show missiles being intercepted during the latest Iranian missile attack. pic.twitter.com/Jvs2Aclyah
Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said it is attacking Israeli air bases used to strike Iranian territory.
According to the Quds News Network, the armed force said: "These strikes will continue in a sequential, complex, multi-layered and gradual manner."
Trump is considering joining Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites, including in Fordow, officials have told CBS.
The president is considering a range of options, including a possible strike, following a meeting with his national security team, US media are reporting this evening.
An Israeli plane has been reportedly downed in Iran, with a search being launched for its pilot, according to Iran's Mehr news agency.
The report said "an Israeli enemy aircraft was targeted in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in southwestern Iran, and a search is underway for its pilot."
Sirens have sounded in several parts of Israel after missile launches were detected from Iran, the country's military has said.
The IDF said in a statement: "At this time, the air force is working to intercept and attack wherever necessary to eliminate the threat."
Israel and Iran are continuing to exchange fire for a fifth day in a row.
This is considered their most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a widespread conflict that could engulf the Middle East.
Donald Trump is meeting with his National Security Council, the White House has confirmed.